Body Image God's Way Part 2Sample

Cultivate Inner Beauty

It’s no secret that we live in a world that focuses on appearances. When it comes to our bodies, there’s constant pressure to change, shrink, tone, and fix. It’s exhausting.

The truth is that we could spend the rest of our lives trying to keep up with the constant demands of attaining an idealized and unrealistic body standard, and it would never be enough.

Why?

Because the world around us promises that if we can just get the body we’ve always wanted, then our cravings will be quenched. We’ll be happy. We’ll finally find contentment, and then we can get on with our lives.

But God’s ways are so much higher than that. And what’s beautiful is that He not only gives us the solution to counteract this constant pressure, but He also makes it attainable. It’s a doable action step that does not involve chasing a body aesthetic that only leaves us feeling defeated and empty inside.

In 1 Peter 3:4, Peter says we should cultivate inner beauty, which is “the gentle, gracious kind of beauty, that God delights in.” So instead of getting entangled in a restless pursuit of striving for the perfect body, we’re invited to align ourselves with what God actually cares about.

God is not wrapped up in appearances. Even if the whole world is currently swimming in an ocean of selfies and overly edited photos, God—the One who is the same yesterday, today, and forever—is still focused on what’s happening on the inside. He already knows that inner beauty stems from that which cannot be achieved with a smaller body or tight skin or bulging muscles.

It’s a beautiful invitation to shift our focus. It’s decreasing the amount of headspace we reserve for body thoughts and increasing the amount of heart space we allow for intimacy with our Maker. The more we align our hearts and thoughts with Him, the more He can do a work within us that extends far beyond what we could ever make happen on our own.

I love Ephesians 3:21 in The Message, which says that “He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.”

Ask yourself how you can shift some things around in your heart today so that you can cultivate an inner beauty that is reflective of a really good God.